Jeff’s Reviews > Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian > Status Update
Jeff
is on page 195 of 320
Christian had ordered the Bounty's four-pounders to be loaded with grape-shot. He waited until the attackers were within point blank range, and then gave the order to fire, with barrels at maximum depression, straight down into the packed canoes. The result was devastating. The men screamed and fled, joined by the girls and the pillagers. A dozen had died in the attack and many more had been wounded.
— Apr 12, 2025 09:25AM
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Jeff
is finished
Ending reference to Othello, comparing Ned Young to Iago, is poignant and a fitting closure to the maelstrom.
— Apr 13, 2025 02:48PM
Jeff
is on page 289 of 320
Hard to make the case that Bligh was well-meaning, profoundly unlucky navigator when he was constantly embroiled in court martials, mutinies and arresting naval officers for the rest of his career. The trip to NSW is as dramatic as many other parts of the story, but ends up a footnote because so much happens.
— Apr 13, 2025 02:29PM
Jeff
is on page 267 of 320
The two men realised that Quintal had lost his reason, just as
McKoy had done, from the alcohol of the tee root, and that he was
as likely to take their lives as McKoy had taken his own. So, with
an axe, they battered in the head of the man who burnt the Bounty
while he was lying in his house in a drunken stupor.
— Apr 13, 2025 09:37AM
McKoy had done, from the alcohol of the tee root, and that he was
as likely to take their lives as McKoy had taken his own. So, with
an axe, they battered in the head of the man who burnt the Bounty
while he was lying in his house in a drunken stupor.
Jeff
is on page 267 of 320
He had evidently bound his own hands and feet and tied a weight about
his neck before leaping to his death.
The death of McKoy had a fearful effect on Mat Quintal. He, too,
drank as heavily as ever and led a life separated from the rest with
his wife Sarah, whom he beat mercilessly. One day, in 1799, Sarah,
too, was found dead at the bottom of the cliffs.
— Apr 13, 2025 09:36AM
his neck before leaping to his death.
The death of McKoy had a fearful effect on Mat Quintal. He, too,
drank as heavily as ever and led a life separated from the rest with
his wife Sarah, whom he beat mercilessly. One day, in 1799, Sarah,
too, was found dead at the bottom of the cliffs.
Jeff
is on page 260 of 320
At least in this account, Ned Young is clearly the villain.
— Apr 13, 2025 09:23AM
Jeff
is on page 235 of 320
Suddenly they began to understand the high scale of value placed on products of Western civilisation by the Polynesians.
— Apr 13, 2025 08:13AM
Jeff
is on page 230 of 320
Molesworth Phillips is probably the only heroic figure in this story and I'm still convinced that would change if we knew everything he did throughout the voyage.
— Apr 13, 2025 07:30AM
Jeff
is on page 207 of 320
The next moment there was the sound of a shot, and the native
toppled overboard, dead, into the water. His body was retrieved
and the natives paddled hastily away, crying out their grief.
The shooting was clearly a mistake. But as Christian made a rapid
departure, he was more than ever determined that their island must
be completely uninhabited, for there would always be misunderstandings and conflicts...
— Apr 12, 2025 11:58AM
toppled overboard, dead, into the water. His body was retrieved
and the natives paddled hastily away, crying out their grief.
The shooting was clearly a mistake. But as Christian made a rapid
departure, he was more than ever determined that their island must
be completely uninhabited, for there would always be misunderstandings and conflicts...
